Calor Gas has officially withdrawn the 4.5kg butane bottle. After a couple of years of poor availability Calor UK has officially announced that it is withdrawing the Cube, 3.9kg propane, 4.5kg butane, 6 litre propane and 12kg butane cylinders. It will not refund the deposit on empty cylinders unless you have the original paperwork.
Many older British boats have lockers especially designed to take the 4.5kg butane bottles. Their only choice may now be to use the Campingaz 907, which holds just 2.72kg of gas and last year was costing as much as £50 for an exchange cylinder.
If the gas locker can be enlarged, without of course compromising safety, other alternatives may be available from companies such as Safefill (whose cylinders can be refilled relatively cheaply, but not always easily, at an LPG filling station) or Flogas, which offers a butane cylinder of a similar size to the Calor 4.5kg.
Currently UK availability of smaller gas bottles is patchy and exchange options in marine locations may be limited.
Calor says, “Improving our cylinder service is a priority. Our existing range of cylinders is creating complexity within our supply chain. This means longer change-over times and reduced filling capacity on high volume key sizes. That’s why we’ve taken the difficult decision to reduce our cylinder range, simplifying the business.”
Its advice to anyone who was dependent on the old cylinders is: “We recommend reaching out to a local gas safe registered engineer who can safely advise on any changes required to your gas cylinder set up.”
Cruising Association members can access information on alternatives via the Cruising Association forums.
Courtesy: Cruising Association – www.theca.org.uk
